Who founded the IKEA furniture company?

Ingvar Kamprad founded the IKEA furniture company. He established IKEA in Sweden in 1943, when he was only 17 years old, initially running it as a mail-order business rather than as the furniture-store chain now familiar worldwide.

Kamprad began selling furniture through IKEA in 1948. The company’s first store opened in Älmhult, Sweden, in 1958, helping establish the showroom-and-self-service model that became central to its retail identity. IKEA’s flat-pack approach later made furniture easier and cheaper to transport and assemble.

The name IKEA is built from Kamprad’s initials, “IK,” plus Elmtaryd, the family farm where he grew up, and Agunnaryd, the nearby village. A common mix-up is assuming IKEA began as a furniture manufacturer; its early business sold assorted goods by mail before furniture became its defining product. Kamprad died in 2018, but the IKEA brand continues through a complex franchise and ownership structure.